I love ice cream and have been able to have it whenever I fancied. Until I found out I am diabetic and have a condition that means I can't eat refined sugar. I did find a diabetic ice cream, but it's rarely available where I live.
To compound this, my youngest granddaughter has a number of food intolerances, so when I'm with them, dairy is off the table, too. Vegan ice cream is available for her but loaded with sugar.
So, I thought, let's make our own - how hard can it be?
As hard as concrete it turns out. Stevia-based sweeteners don't work.
However, a little trial and error, and we've got there. My daughter created the following recipe for no-added-sugar, soft, creamy and delicious banoffee-style ice cream.
It contains real fruit, a plant-based cream, soya milk and the magic ingredient - sugar-free toffee flavour coffee syrup. The recipe is suitable for vegans but close your eyes and you'll never know.
Recipe
250ml plant-based double cream. We used Elmlea.
250ml unsweetened soya milk.
1tbsp toffee flavour sugar-free coffee syrup
2 small ripe bananas.
Method
Chill both the cream and the milk in advance.
Whizz all the ingredients together in a bowl using a hand blender.
Pour into an ice cream maker and churn following the manufacturer's instructions.
This will give a lovely creamy soft scoop ice cream. If you prefer a firmer texture, place the ice cream in a plastic tub with a lid and pop it in the freezer.
The ice cream maker we used could churn up to 800ml. We found it worked better with slightly less at around 600ml.
We'll be trying a few more flavour combinations over the next few weeks. A mint choc chip one is probably the next target.
The weather was unseasonably warm as my husband, and I set off for the walk I needed to meet my challenge. Following a route on Pokemon Go helped persuade him it was a good idea - well actually, he was the one raring to go while I dallied on the trampoline with the grandchildren.
Anyway, it was bright, sunny and warm. Most unusual for October in the UK. Bright and sunny usually means cold. The season's fruitfulness was evident all around with hawthorn berries, rosehips and honeyberries jostling for their share of the light.
You'll notice that these pictures don't have a real wow factor. I'm creating them to document my walks for my own personal use so they don't have to be fit for National Geographic.
The better light today helped me get a photo of this Scarlet Pimpernel, seen in wet conditions a couple of days ago.
I'd love to hear about any challenges you might be involved in. Why not share your progress in the comments?
That's great to find an ice cream recipe that you can eat! Our bodies need ice cream! LOL
Janice, I have played around with ice cream recipes over the years. My body hates refined sugar, and soy anything spikes my blood pressure immediately. So for just me, I use this formula for ice cream: 3 eggs, whisked well, 10 oz organic (Crofters) all-fruit apricot jam, and enough half-and-half to make a total of one quart. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it turns into custard. Chill overnight. Run it through the ice cream maker (frozen basket type) until it's as hard as you like. Easy and delectable! And thanks for your recipe!
I'm so glad you found a way to work around both high glycemic index and lactose issues. I've noticed non-dairy and no sugar ice creams in the supermarket, but I haven't seen if there is one that is both non-dairy and non carb.